The Fluted Point Component of the Old River Bed Delta, Utah

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This poster contextualizes archaeological sites with fluted point components and related finds on the Old River Bed (ORB) delta in western Utah. Between ~13,000 and 9500 cal BP the ORB delta endured as a large distributary-fed wetland in what is now the dry and forbidding Great Salt Lake Desert. This vast wetland is widely recognized for its Western Stemmed archaeology, but recent finds add to a lesser-known, Younger Dryas-age fluted component that now merits further attention. This poster compiles an up-to-date database of fluted points and associated assemblages from the ORB delta and contextualizes their distribution in relation to local geomorphology and related and similarly timed components (e.g., crescents, Haskett points). We also document the prevalence of various raw material types and present lithic sourcing results that help to document toolstone procurement ranges. Our aim is to highlight the possible interplay between various social groups that inhabited the region in the terminal Pleistocene and shed light on the technological choices that helped shape how they moved and possibly interacted across this landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36310.0